Diet tips scales at sesh

Bale loses himself in role

The aud at Monday’s Variety screening of “The Machinist” was understandably intrigued by topliner Christian Bale’s enormous weight loss for his role as a man literally wasting away from a guilty conscience.

“I usually say I did it through copious amounts of drugs, but my mother-in-law and wife’s grandmother are here, so, I did it by conventional dieting,” Bale said.

The thesp bristled slightly at the inevitable questions revolving about his 60-pound weight loss. “In no way would I like this to be seen as a gimmick,” he said. “I would have to be an idiot to do this for a movie that wasn’t worth it.”